A Magnificent Book for All Interested in the Journey of Life

by Lori Goldrich, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst and Clinical Psychologist

It is with great pleasure that I review Erel Shalit’s
marvelous book. To begin, I feel so moved by the synchronous events that led to
his finding of the book’s cover, or “face.” Benjamin Shiff’s painting “Life”
and the meaning he gives for this marriage of book and painting are quite
exquisite. “The candle’s soft light of life is poised against the painful
inevitability of burning out. Yet, as long as they burn, there are shades and colors;
there are the distinct faces of transient existence, and there are those of
obscurity, hidden in distant nature; there is a lyrical melancholy, as well as
a tense harmony…Only an unlit candle will never burn out. A fully lived life
extracts the awareness of its finality.” These words are like pearls for the
journey he takes us on in The Cycle of Life.

I also appreciate the ground he creates by discussing fate
and destiny as a “primary tenet,” or underpinning of his book. When we let the
tides of our fate and our destiny flow together into a union of opposites,
meaning can be found. What begins as our fate can so often become a part of our
destiny, which he so aptly discusses in his book. I have found this to be an
important foundational principle, both personally and in my analytic work with
patients. “On our journey through life, an incessant tension prevails between
predetermined fate and free will, between archetypal patterns as opposed to
individual distinctiveness.” So well stated!

Erel Shalit truly succeeds in describing the different
stages of life in a way that keeps the reader interested and engaged. The
weaving of psychological and theoretical perspectives from Freud to Klein to
Winnicott to Neumann to Jung, and others, along with the wisdom from various
disciplines including philosophy, literature, religion, and myth, is presented
in such a way that both clinician and layperson can deepen in experience and
knowledge. I especially appreciate his discussion of how the focus on
archetypal images and experience can release the energy that lives in the
deeper stratas of the psyche to assist in the transformation of psyche, body
and spirit.

I also want to share a personal delight while reading Erel’s
book. I always enjoy exploring the precise meaning of Hebrew words, and I so
enjoyed his inclusion of this for select words and names. It “makes the
connection between word and image comparatively close.” It is also reflective
of the depth of attention he brings to his writing.

Erel Shalit has written a truly magnificent piece of work.
It is a book for all those interested in the Journey. At the beginning of his
book, he offers us the image of the “river” and writes from Plato, “While the
river preserves its identity, it is incessantly moving and changing,
simultaneously being and becoming.” As I read his book, I can truly experience
the being and becoming on the journey of life.

1 comment:

I was very interested in how you began the book with the DURATION OF LIFE by a German Fairy Tale, published by the Grimms Brothers.

Where that tale came from I don't know other than that it is said to be German; however, it is, if you think about it, a correct analysis of the human life cycle. I have been studying Jungian Psychology since 1978 and I have also been researching esotericism (symbolically and alphanumerically)in ancient literature for only a few years longer. The following link is a graphic image of the psyche; though, you may not think so. All religions on earth are based upon it and this MATRIX OF WISDOM is a commentary on the MONAD. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=956073917765356&set=picfp.100000882709141.956070287765719&type=3&theater

If you study the MATRIX OF WISDOM you'll see there are 40-nines and the other sixty-cells pair off into another 30-nines. The sixty cells symbolizes the LIGHT that comes out of the DARKNESS, which are the first thirty years of life and the 40-nines have to do with second half of life dealing with the unconscious instinctual archetypal (animalistic) mind. Usually we think in terms of 35 as being midway this journey of our lives; however, the manner in which the sacred scriptures are written is similar to how the matrix reveals the DURATION OF LIFE. It gives the most economical material available to express itself and along the way it corrects itself accordingly. The forty years of animal life in the Grimms fairy tales symbolizes the unconscious mind.

This matrix is the most powerful symbol on the face of the earth and there is an infinite amount of knowledge that comes out of it.

Being Jewish you may not believe that the sacred scriptures is a byproduct of this matrix (no images), which is a commentary on the MONAD. The entire Judaeao Christian Scriptures were written as commentaries on the MATRIX OF WISDOM.

The Chinese created their Tao-te-Ching and I Ching from it, Buddhism built their stupas from it, Hinduism and Christianity build their temples and cathedrals based upon it and Egypt and many nations around the world build their their pyramids based upon it. Every culture around the world knew of it; however, that doesn't mean they now know of it. The game of Chess is a product of it and the matrix is the foundation of Astrology. Pythagoras obtained his mathematical theorem from it.

Most important from this MATRIX OF WISDOM the psyche projects outwardly the world and the universe at large and if you study the matrix you will see the universe created from it by cubing the matrix and making it the center of a 28 x 28 x 28 cube matrix with the large ALEPH (1000) in the center of that Rubric's cube. Do the calculations and you will realized that it is just a Vesica Piscis short of the Equinoctial Cycle of 25,920-years. That small portion that is not part of the 28 x 28 x 28 cubed matrix represents the spiritual forces of creation, what is left is the heavens (collective unconscious) and the earth equally divided, with the Vesica Piscis in the center: ALL OF THIS IS ALSO LAID OUT IN THE FIRST WORD OF GENESIS.

Erel Shalit is a Jungian psychoanalyst in Ra’anana, Israel. He is a training and supervising analyst, and past president of the Israel Society of Analytical Psychology (ISAP). He is the author of several publications, including The Hero and His Shadow: Psychopolitical Aspects of Myth and Reality in Israel and The Complex: Path of Transformation from Archetype to Ego. Articles of his have have appeared inQuadrant, The Jung Journal, Spring Journal, PoliticalPsychology, ClinicalSupervisor, RoundTableReview, Jung Page, Midstream, and he has entries in The Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Dr. Shalit lectures at professional institutes, universities and cultural forums in Israel, Europe and the United States.